New Delhi, In 2023, road accidents caused 50.9 million injuries and 1.34 million deaths around the world and motor vehicle crashes were the leading cause of road injury cases and deaths, a new study has estimated.
Event Context
Findings published in The Lancet Public Health journal show that road injuries were the leading cause of death among young people ages 10-39 globally and the second-leading cause among children ages 5-9. Overall, road injuries ranked as the 11th cause of death around the world.
Researchers including those from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the US’ University of Washington found that mortality rates are nearly six times higher in low-income countries than in high-income countries, with more than 90 per cent of deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries.
Player Focus
“Road injury outcomes are shaped not only by crashes, but by the systems designed to prevent them and protect people when they occur,” senior author Liane Ong, senior research scientist at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, said.
“Road deaths are largely preventable, but progress requires sustained investment. Reducing them requires safer infrastructure, stronger safety policies, and better emergency care,” Ong said.
The team analysed road injury trends across 204 countries and territories between 1990 and 2023, using data from the Global Burden of Disease 2023 study, which provides “the most comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of road injury burden worldwide”.
Between 1990 and 2023, global age-standardised rates of new road injury cases and deaths declined by 38.3 per cent and 32.3 per cent, respectively, but the gains were found to be uneven across income groups mortality rates fell most sharply in high-income countries, while low-income countries saw little measurable improvement.
Burden of road injuries also varied by road-user type, with motor vehicle crashes accounting for the largest share of both road injuries and deaths worldwide, causing 19.8 million injuries and 518,000 deaths in 2023, the researchers found.
Pedestrian injuries were found to cause nearly one-third of road injury deaths, while motorcyclist injuries represented 13 per cent of cases but nearly 24 per cent of deaths.
Substantial differences in injury severity were found fractures were the most common non-fatal injury, accounting for more than 38 per cent of cases, while head injuries occurred in roughly one in ten cases.
Motorcyclists experienced the highest proportion of head injuries, most of which were moderate or severe traumatic brain injuries. The more severe injuries were also found to be disproportionately concentrated in low- and middle-income countries.
Road injuries also carry major social and economic costs worldwide.
The study projected the global economic cost of road injuries to reach USD 1.8 trillion over the 2015-2030 period.
Match Outlook
Evidence suggests that more than 200,000 lives could be saved each year through enhanced trauma care coverage in low- and middle-income countries, the researchers said.
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